Wow, it has been a whirlwind of activities with no end in site.I am extremely excited about the opportunities before us.From meeting to meeting there seems to be a common theme of people within our association--we are VERY Passionate about OUR Irondale Knight Hockey and our kids.I think it is awesome that this many people care this much about such a wonderful sport.Let's continue to make sure that we leave nothing to chance.I have already witnessed more people stepping up to help fulfill duties and it is very contagious.If we can spread out the pie, so to speak, we will end up with more people involved and more people feeling good about such a wonderful ASSOCIATION.Keep it up.

On the President’s front, I withstood my first assassination attempt even though Brent Eilefson, Mark Rupp, and many of the Boys Coaches protected me.Tom Lucarelli never told me this would happen.I told Mark Rupp he really knows how to end a meeting, With Fireworks.No seriously we were in a meeting at Hanson Park and some kids lit the building on fire.Unbelievable.Paul Dulin should get the credit for protecting us all by actually checking out the campfire smell inside the building that was going on for 10 minutes.

I have been performing diligently my responsibility of naming a Director of Player and Coach Development.This task I do not take lightly.If any of you have input let me know.I sat in on the Fundraising meeting, Boys Coaches Meeting and the Girls Coaches meeting a few weeks ago.The numerous emails and phone calls leads me to believe we are truly lucky to have so many committed people involved in such a great Association.

Make sure to keep the kids active this summer.If they get a chance to rollerblade or skate take advantage of it.Stickhandling and shooting pucks will pay off next winter on the scoreboard, as well.

Remember not only EXPECT MORE, but DO MORE!

Thank you,

Kevin Bourassa

IYHA President

Association News and Notes

Equipment

From Equipment Manager Tom Johnson:

All Irondale teams should get their Jerseys to Tom as soon as possible so that they can be stored away for the summer.Please contact Tom if you still have jerseys.

Website News

From Torri Johnson:

1)The 2009-2010 Season will be entered into the website soon and will become the new default.Previous seasons are still available.On your team page, change the season to review all the highlights from years past.

2)An updated sponsorship report is in the Documents section.Please review with your sponsors.

3)A new "opt-out" feature is now available with website emails.If you choose to opt-out, you will still receive schedule changes for your team.Opting out only applies to general communications through the website.

4)Do you Twitter?Facebook? Digg? kIRTSY? Kaboodle? Link-a-Gogo? Are you Linked In?If so, you can bookmark and share almost anything from our website.Click on the Share button wherever you see it on the website and post it on your Facebook page or send a Tweet!

Community Events

From Heidi Dulin:

Hey! Irondale players & parents!

This is just a pre-reminder about the summer parades!It's a great way to show your support for IYHA!The kids have a GREAT time and it's SO MUCH FUN!KIDS OF ALL AGES/LEVELS ARE INVITED!Please come walk a parade this summer (or all 3)!I need lots of kids to throw candy & hand out fliers while we "Rock Out" at the parade. The bigger, brighter & bolder we are, the better!This is how we advertise our love of hockey and get MORE PLAYERS!

Parade Information:

St. Anthony Village Fest - Friday, July 31 @ 7 pm

New Brighton Stock Yard days - Thursday, Aug. 6 @ tbd

Mounds View Festival in the Park - Saturday, Aug 22 @ 1 pm

More information to follow mid-July through August. Please be on the look out!

Also, I will need a few more parents to chaperone these events! Especially if you have younger players! THANKS!

Please support your association and your hard working parade coordinator!

WHAT TIME IS IT??......... KNIGHT TIME!!!!!

Fundraising

From the Fundraising Committee:

DINING FOR DOLLARS-- Take your family out for dinner and raise money for IYHA at the same time! This new fundraiser will begin Monday, June 8 at Fuddruckers in Roseville. Check the website for more details and to print out the required coupon. IYHA will receive 20% of the total sales received with the coupon that day. This will be an ongoing event the 2nd Monday of each month rotating 6 local restaurants so there is sure to be one of your favorites coming up soon!

On-Ice Accomplishments

From Steve Clark:

The Irondale B-Mites took third place in their Minnesota Showcase playoff bracket.They had a season record of 5 Wins, 2 Losses and 1 Tie.Both losses were by one goal.The B-Mites drew St. Louis Park in their first playoff game and came up short losing 2-1.They took on the Minneapolis Lakers in the Consolation Round and won 2-1.The third place game was against St Louis Park for the second time.The score was tied 2-2 after 2 periods when the B-Mites scored two in the third to win 4-2.

From Brent Eilefson:

A Showcase team comprising a large contingent of IYHA squirts lost the third-place game in their bracket, after a solid Showcase season.This is noteworthy both as filler for this page, but also because the game started with the IYHA team down 0-4, coming back to tie the game, and proceeding to what was most of the kids’ (including the goalie’s) first-ever shootout.Exciting game topped off with cupcakes.Thanks to Rick Laporte for putting the team together.

From Brent Eilefson:

A Showcase team comprising several IYHA Peewees and soon-to-be-Bantams won the championship game in their bracket.Noteworthy was the fact that at one point there may have been more coaches on the Irondale bench than the other team had players.Despite the competing coaches’ voices, the squad stayed focused and took home the hardware.Thanks to Phil Herbert for having something to do with putting the team together.

IYHA Board Meetings are open meetings.

Please feel free to come to the meetings.If you have an agenda item for the Board to consider, please contact the IYHA Secretary at iyhasecretary@gmail.com.Board meetings are held the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the New Brighton Family Service Center. Upcoming meetings will be held:June 18, July 16 and August 20.

Lake Region Board Meetings:

Lake Region Hockey meetings are open meetings. Contact Theresa Spiering for dates and times of upcoming meetings.

Sponsorships:

Sponsors for IYHA and teams are listed below. Please notify the IYHA Secretary of any additions or corrections. (Please forward information about websites and addresses, etc.) Many thanks to our sponsors!

Chris Drews moved to turn the Merger Task Force into the Potential Partnership Committee and allow them to reach out to other area associations to explore the idea of potential partnerships and bring back proposals to the Board.The motion was adopted after debate.

C.IYHA Cookbook – Torri Johnson presented, for the record, regarding web postings she innocently formatted and revised, related to the IYHA cookbook “committee,” which may have cooked up some confusion.She apologizes for said confusion to the Fund Raising Committee members.

Theresa Spiering moved to separate the calendar accounting from team accounting and deal with the profit or loss at the Association expense.The motion was adopted after debate.

D.Player and Coach Development Follow-up – Tyler Fitzel presented regarding the lack of a Director of Player and Coach Development, despite the existence of a Player and Coach Development Committee and a job description for the position of Director of Player and Coach Development.

Chris Drews moved that by May Board meeting the president is to appoint a Director of Player and Coach Development to follow the guidelines of the Player Development Committee as set forth on the IYHA website.The motion was adopted after debate.

Brent Eilefson provided a brief introduction about himself.Jeanne F made a motioned to accept the white ballot nomination and approval of Brent as Secretary of IYHA.Tom J seconded.All approved – motion carried.

Beth Soberg provided a brief introduction about herself.Jeanne F made a motion to accept the white ballot nomination and approval of Beth as Registration Coordinator of IYHA.Tom J seconded.All approved – motion carried.

Nina Dojan provided a brief introduction about herself.Jean A made a motion to accept the white ballot nomination and approval of Nina as Initiation Coordinator of IYHA.Monica C seconded.All approved – motion carried.

Kevin Bourassa provided a brief introduction about himself.He thanked the outgoing board members for their service and thanked the incoming board members for volunteering to serve.He said he would be happy to help IYHA if elected.

Paul Dulin provided a brief introduction about himself.He thanked Kevin B for running for president and too thanked the outgoing board members for their service and hoped they would look forward to quieter times.He too thanked the incoming board members. If elected, he said he would be available to all.He loves this association, loves hockey and wants to see it succeed.

Outgoing President Tom Lucarelli announced the election results making Kevin Bourassa President of IYHA.

Would you like to have something published in the newsletter? Please contact the IYHA Secretary.Would you like something on the Web Site? Contact Torri Johnson at IYHAwebsite@aol.com Information you share is helpful in keeping our members up to date about activities of the Irondale Youth Hockey Association! (The deadline for the next month’s newsletter is the second week of each month.) Thank you!